Luna's Hero
by ForgottenFables
Summary: The Three greatest threats to Equestria have captured the three older princesses. In a desperate move, Twilight uses a summoning spell to try to call on a hero for help. But what could this little colt possibly do to save the world?
1. Chapter 1

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.**

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><p>Danny was flying away from his house as fast as he could. It was crawling with ghost hunters. 'How did they find out?' He thought desperately. He had been so careful to never let any blood or image of his transformation get out. How did they guess that he was a half ghost when half ghosts couldn't possibly exist?<p>

'I need a plan… Sam. Sam will know what to do.' He thought desperately and made a turn towards his friend's house.

He flew through the wall to her room to find Sam sit there with his other best friend Tucker. They looked up to him but they didn't seem surprised even if they were nervous. Danny didn't notice any of it though. Why would he be analyzing his best friends at a time like this one? They had been his friends through thick and thin for years. They would never betray him.

"Sam, Tucker, I'm in trouble. The Guys in White somehow found out about my ghost half. I don't know what to do." Danny said in panic.

"Danny." Sam said looking at him. There was sadness in her usually bright purple eyes. "I'm sorry." Danny let of a scream and fell to his knees as pain shoot through his chest and flowed through the rest of his body.

One hand rose to his chest and he felt a warm liquid between his fingers. Pulling his hand away he found it covered in deep red blood that had sparks of green light that faded in the few seconds that it had been out if his body. "Sam?" The question died on his lips as he looked up at the ecto gun in the girl's hand.

Danny felt the sting of betrayal. It was one thing for his parents who he'd always knew might reject him to fire at him and try to end what was left of his life. But he thought that Sam and Tucker were different, that they would always be in his corner.

Danny's heart skipped a beat as the door to Sam's room opened at in came several men dressed in bleached white suits. Each held in their hands a large ecto-cannon. One of them approached Sam and Tucker. "Good work. Consider you crimes with this piece of ecto-scum pardoned." He said his grin driving the truth of what was going to happen to him home for Danny. "Come on boys. Let get this thing back to the lab so we can start the really painful experiments."

Danny looked up to his former friends for the last time in his life. He tried to communicate all the betrayal he felt though the look in his eyes alone. But he had lost a lot of blood and the shock to his core was quickly putting him to sleep. "Why?" He whispered just before his head hit the carpeted floor of Sam's bedroom leaving him dead to the world, a ring past over his body changing his white hair black and his jumpsuit into a normal t-shirt and shorts. The blood still ran from his chest turning his white shirt red.

Two of the agents moved in to restrain him. They pulled out glowing green cuff and the greed could be seen behind there sunglasses. But before they could reach him they were blown back by a wind of green energy that swept through the room scattering books and loose pages everywhere. The hands of a clock appeared between them and the ghost boy and as they spun a portal opened and out came a ghost.

The ghost's ruby red eyes shone with fire from underneath his purple cloak, casting an eerie light on the scar that ran down the side of his face. He lifted up a large scythe in one hand and a staff with a clock on the end of it in the other. "You will not have Daniel!" He voice carried the power and knowledge of the centuries in it.

Tucker who had been quiet throughout the ordeal whispered the name of the powerful specter. "Clockwork."

"23 19! 23 19!" The lead agent was shouting. Clockwork moved through the group moving his scythe like a fish through a stream, quickly severing the agents' bottom halves from their top.

He finished the group of a dozen agents without even blinking. Then he turned his eyes to Sam and Tucker who were shaking in fear. "Be glad that Daniel would hate me for killing you. It is the only reason you will be allowed to keep living." He said floating back to the unconscious boy.

"Will… will he be ok?" Sam asked worry and guilt in her voice.

Clockwork glared at the girl who shrunk back. "He will… but you will never see him again." He spat. "I hope your bought freedom was worth the betrayal." Then carrying the unconscious boy through the portal Clockwork allowed the gate to close leave the children alone with the bodies of the newly dead agents.

Clockwork set the young boy down on a bed within his lair. He watched as the ectoplasm in the air of the Ghost Zone began to close the wound on the young ghost boy's chest. Soon the boy began to shift and Clockwork let out an imagined breath that he had been holding.

Danny's shifting became more and more unsettled until he bolted up gasping his blue eyes wide with confusion as he failed to comprehend his surroundings. "Calm Daniel." Clockwork said in a gentle voice as he placed a hand lightly on Danny's shoulder and guided him back down into the bed. "You are safe." Danny looked up to see the old and wrinkled form of Clockwork hovering over him.

"Clockwork… I… I don't…" Danny stuttered and his hand went to his chest were the blood was still only just starting to crust. A look of understanding crossed his child's face giving him a look beyond years. "They… I can't believe it." Tears were coming to the eyes of the young ghost. "Why?"

"When the GIW found out about your half ghost status they went to Samantha and Tucker and offered to give them a blank slate in exchange for your capture." Clockwork answered the question. He shifted for the form of an elderly man into that of an infant child, a pained expression clear across his face. "I am so sorry, Daniel."

Danny shook his head and brought up a hand and tried to whip the tears out of his eyes. The only thing it accomplished was to spread a smear of the fresher blood across his face. "It isn't your fault, Clockwork. We all knew that it could happen someday… I just wasn't prepared." He looked up to his old friend and tried his best to smile. With the red blood and tears that sparkled green all over his face, he looked like hell but he tried his best to sound light. "Thanks for saving me." He choked on the last syllable.

"Just rest for now, Daniel. I will watch over you." Clockwork said gentle. Danny eyes were grateful as they slowly fell down. He was safe, his guardian was there for him.

Clockwork returned to the main part of his lair that was filled with clocks and screens that showed all kinds of pasts and futures. He was gazing with some intensity at one in particular when he received some unwelcome guests. "Clockwork, what is the meaning of this!?" One of the five Observants shouted as they appeared behind him, the one eyed green blobs that governed the Ghost Zone.

"Have you ever heard of knocking?" Clockwork said with venom clear in his echoing voice.

"None of your games, Clockwork. You interfered directly in the destiny of that thin…" Clockwork had no patience for the creatures that day. Not after what they had done…

"Do not talk to me about interfering! Not after what you did!" He snapped glaring at the Observant and pointing at the monitor he had been watching. It showed an Observant placing a folder reading 'Phantom/Fenton' on a GIW's desk. "The Observant are supposed to observe and judge. Not be an accessory to the murder of an innocent child!" Clockwork's glare sent even the Observant shifting back. "Did you think I wouldn't notice? Did you think you could pull the wool over my eyes!?"

"The boy is dangerous, Clockwork." An Observant said trying to defend their actions.

"I don't see you arranging the murder of Vladimir, or the Fright Knight. And I know that Vortex and Undergrowth's escapes weren't by accident. You would never overlook something as obvious as a fake guard." Clockwork said his aura building to a terrifying level. "You have been trying to get rid of the boy since he defeated Pariah and became the rightful Prince of the Ghost Zone."

"Clockwork!" One of the Observants said wide eyed.

"You fools thought I didn't know. I know everything!" Clockwork's voice boomed. "You only wished to have the boy killed so that you would keep your power. That is why you engineered the events to create Dan and then demanded for Daniel's death and not Vladimir's to prevent Dan from existing. A new king would leave the Observants meaningless after all." Clockwork said floating up to them. "If you try to touch Daniel again… I might not be able to harm you directly… but I might be a butterfingers around a certain thermos."

All the Observant shuddered in fear. "You… you can't mean that."

"I. DO." Clockwork said angrily and then returned to his monitors. "Leave."

"We… we won't forget this Clockwork." One Observant said but froze when Clockwork's ruby eyes settled on him.

"Good." Clockwork said. "Then I wouldn't have to tell you again. Now leave!" The Observant fled as if the fires of hell were at their heels. Clockwork sighed and looked towards the back room where the boy who was like a son to him was resting. "I am sorry Daniel. Please believe me that it is for the best. You heart is too good to be king of the Ghost Zone. I let it all happen… so you would worry about this world after you leave it all behind."

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><p>In another world, a lone guard move through the garden outside of the maze in Canterlot. The pony guard stopped in front of one particular statue and stared at it. It was a bazar statue. Every single part of its body seemed to stem from different animals.<p>

"So this is the great Discord." Even though the guard looked male the voice was unmistakably feminine. "This will do nicely." A circle of green flames passed over the guard relieve a completely different pony. It now had a pitch black coat and murky greenish mane, its hoofs and horn were full of holes and rather twisted. The creature's eyes looked like those of an insect's and shone green.

The new pony was Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings. She flew up closer to the head of the statue on her insect like wings. A wicked grin showed pointed teeth that you wouldn't expect in a pony. "They say you can still hear and see everything around you will you're trapped in the stone. Well then, you will know who to thank for setting you free."

"You talk too much, Chrysalis." A dark voice grunted. A dark fog was gathered behind the changeling Queen. Inside the fog were two eyes that gave most that saw them nightmares. They were bloody red eyes with slitted pupils, the whites of which flowed with an eerie green mist that turned to sapphire flames as they exited the corners. "Luna and Celestia are out of Canterlot leaving only Princess Cadance to guard the Castle and the Elements of Harmony. We may never get a chance like this again." The voice and eyes belonged to the once Tyrant King Sombra.

Chrysalis bared her teeth but nodded. Her horn began to glow and the stone statue began to crack. As the stone fell away in slabs light hearted laughter could be heard. "Well then." The new voice said. "There is no time to lose." Out of the dust left from the falling stone, came the form of Discord. "Let the madness commence."

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><p><strong>Some of you might notice that I am reusing an opening for why Danny is not trying to get home. (See 'A Different Kind of Phantom' a MARXDP crossover) That is because I was getting lazy and it still works.<strong>

**If you ask how much I know about MLP; I read some spark notes, looked at the wiki a little, and listened to a little creative music that fans made. So I pretty much winged this. Shut up.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.**

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><p>"Are you sure this is going to work?" Rainbow Dash, the rainbow haired pegasus asked her friend skeptically.<p>

"For the fifth time Rainbow Dash, no I'm not." Replayed Twilight Sparkle, the last free Alicorn said in frustration to her impatient friend. "But we don't have much of a choice. Princesses Celestia, Luna and Cadance have all been captured and we don't have the Elements of Harmony." Twilight said will continuing her work with a magic circle.

"Twilight's right Rainbow Dash. Have some faith in the plan." Pinky Pie the pink earth pony said as she bounced around the library giggling. But then she stopped. "What was the plan again?"

"What… Pinky Pie it was your plan." Applejack said a bit exhausted from her turn at night look out for the town of Ponyville, which had quickly became the last free town in Equestria. Of course without one of the older Princesses to raise the sun it was always night. "Remember, the call for help plan?"

"Oh yeah." Pinkie Pie said happily.

"You don't remember at all, do you?" Rarity said what everyone had already guessed. Pinkie Pie only giggled to confirm it. Rarity sighed. "We are going to summon a hero to Equestria to help us."

"Wait, so it's a pony from outside of Equestria? Then where do they come from?" Pinkie pie asked.

"I don't know and Celestia forgive me, but I don't care. The texts aren't very specific. People haven't used the summoning ritual in a long time since it was made forbidden, it's only to be used in the most dire of circumstances." Twilight said as she put the finishing touches on the circle.

"Wait, forbidden, why is it forbidden?" Rainbow Dash asked nervously.

"Don't know, the text said something about ethical reasons. I think it is looked down on to call someone to fight your battles for you, but no one involved with the spell gets physically harmed though and we really are desperate. It's only been two weeks worth of night and things are already looking really bad. I don't know how much longer we can hold out at this rate." Twilight said but there was a slight note of guilt. "Now if you all don't mind being quiet I need to concentrate on this. This is a ten year spell so if it messes up we're sunk."

Twilight walked slowly counterclockwise along the outer rim of the circle slowly closing in towards the center of the circle with each cycle. Twilight's horn glowed bright purple and the grow spread throughout her entire body to even the tips of her wings.

She reached the center and a brilliant light shot out in all directions blinding everyone in the room. As the light dimmed and everyone regained their senses they looked eagerly to the center of the room to see what the hero would look like. To their shock and disappointment, there was nothing there.

"What, don't tell me the spell failed!" Rainbow Dash said frantically looking around the room.

"Calm down Rainbow Dash. The spell didn't fail." Spike the baby dragon said as he started to clean up the mess that the magical wind had made.

"Might want to get your eyes checked little guy, there ain't any hero here." Applejack said a little disheartened.

"That's because the spell calls them to Equestria, it was never perfected so I can't call them to this exact spot." Twilight said before sitting down and taking a breather. The summoning spell had used a lot of her magic. "But the spell definitely worked."

"So… how are we supposed to… find him?" Fluttershy asked softly.

"Don't worry about that. I'll get the ingredients for the locator spell in a moment." Spike said bringing Twilight a glass of water. "It will tell us where he is and let us see him."

"I wonder what he's going to be like." Rarity said excitedly. "I do hope he is a tall and handsome stallion." She had a far off look in her eyes.

"How's about we just hope that they can help us out." Applejack said rolling her eyes.

Spike brought out a wide bowl of silvery liquid and placed it in front of Twilight. "You sure you're ok enough to keep using your magic?" He asked the friend that had been there for him since the moment he had hatched.

Twilight gave a weak smile at the baby dragon. "Don't worry Spike. I'll be fine." She got up and moved over to the bowl. Her horn began to glow again and the ripples in the pool began to take form and color began to appear until they had an image of a small forest clearing with a pond in the middle of it. All the girls moved in and stared at the image.

"You have got to be kidding me." Rainbow Dash was again the first to find her voice.

"He… he's just a little colt." Fluttershy said looking wide eyed at the figure of the small pony that was looking into the pond. They couldn't make out many of his features, but he was clearly very young.

"He doesn't look any older than Sweetie Bell." The disappointment was audible in Rarity's voice.

"I… I don't understand. I did the spell perfectly." Twilight said moving to the book and scanning the pages. "Why… why did we get some child instead of… of a… of a hero." She said and nearly through the book to the floor in frustration. "I… I failed. All of Equestria needed that spell to work and I messed up." Tears were coming to her eyes.

"Come on Twi, you gave it your best shot. No one could have done better than you." Applejack said trying to comfort her friend. "Why don't you rest now and you can give that bronco another go later."

Twilight looked at Applejack and shook her head. "No Applejack, I can't give it another try. No one can. That spell leaves a trail on Equestria that won't fade for ten years. And until it's gone the spell won't work. That's why it's called a ten year spell."

"Oh come now Twilight it isn't like we are any worse off than we were before." Rainbow Dash said. "Don't you worry, we haven't lost this yet."

Well the other girls had gone to try and comfort Twilight, Pinkie Pie had stayed by the bowl watching the little pony. "Guys, you might want to see this." Pinkie Pie said slowly.

The other looked up and approached the bowl, but none of them were prepared for what they were about to see.

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><p>Danny had woken up after being hit by a blinding light to find himself laying face down in grass. His hands and feet felt numb and his whole body seemed to not want to follow his instructions. He looked up to find that he was in a small forest clearing. He could just make out the stars and the moon in the sky.<p>

'That's odd. There shouldn't be any stars or moon in the Ghost Zone.' He thought as the eerie calm of waking still lay heavy upon him. He turned his head and saw a pool of water nearby. His throat felt parched from the bright light that had transported him to the field. He began to craw towards the pool and stuck his whole head in and pulled it out again to wash the drossiness out of his eyes. When he looked back down to get a drink his eyes widened.

As the ripples in the pool began to settle Danny got a good look at himself in the water. "What the heck." He said as he saw the image of a pony in the water. He had a light yellowish coat with a raven black mane and the same crystal blue eyes that he had always had. He could actually see much of his old appearance in the water with his hair style. He looked back to check if he looked like a pony outside of the pond and saw that he had a black spot on his coat in the shape of a rocket on his right flank.

His reaction was not the same as you would find in most people that had woken up to find that they were suddenly a small horse. "Well this is the fourth most inconvenient thing I have ever been turned into." He muttered as he staggered up onto all fours. "Right after Jell-O, an ant, and Poindexter, man that one was a drag." Within moments he was shifting his weight and hoping back and forth in order to test the new body.

He was starting to get used to the body when he heard a twig snap behind him and he spun around. "Who's there?" he shouted dropping into a stance as best he knew how.

Danny's ears shoot up on his head before he silently cursed his luck. He could hear the soft snickering of what must have been a dozen creatures that had him surrounded just out of sight. "Look at what we have here boys, a little pony so far away from home." A grave voice said and into the clearing came a dark furred hound that had a scar over its right eye. Danny could smell the dirt and filth on the dog. It had jagged teeth and a collar with some kind of black jewel on it.

Danny sized up the dog finding him to be more than twice his size. Danny could smell the fight coming like the stink off the dog. Reaching into himself he grabbed a hold of his ghost core to pull out his powers. But he found the core unstable and unresponsive. 'Just my luck.' The thought looking around as one by one the dogs that had been hiding moved out.

"If you want to sneak up on someone you really should take a bath. I could smell you coming." Danny said his eyes darting around. He was completely surrounded and cornered against the pond. He was willing to bet that dogs could out swim ponies.

"Oh great, a wordy little pony. Well, they never are very wordy after King Sombra gets through with them." The lead hound said bearing his teeth at Danny. "Diamond Dogs, get him!"

The group of hounds rushed forwards in threes but catching a ready Danny Phantom is no easy matter, even if he is in an unfamiliar body and without his powers, he was a skilled and practiced fighter.

Pressing forward Danny moved underneath an outstretched arm and kicked the owner in the jaw as he went. He passed by two more dogs by jumping to the side when they had too much momentum to quickly change directions and so Danny broke through the ranks of the dogs and headed into the thicker woods.

Danny had ran a little when he turned back lightly panting. The dogs were now more spread out and were coming in ones and twos with time in-between instead of all at once. The dogs were large and brutish and not experienced fighters, they were unable to coordinate together or keep up with the young hero.

The dogs had no idea what to do. They were used to just surprising, out running and pouncing on the ponies that they spied. But the small raven-maned pony didn't move like anypony they had ever encountered. Instead of the steady galloping and straight lines, he jumped back and forth as he ran moving more like an antelope than a horse. And he spun and turned in the air like a mountain lion and used the surrounding trees to change directions quickly.

Danny had cut the enemies number in half and the remaining six were sporting blackened eyes and limps when their leader had had enough. "This is ridiculous. It's just one pony!" He screamed. "That is it, call the Manticore."

One of the dogs pulled out a whistle out and blew down hard. Loud crashing came through the forest. Danny had to dodge splinters of wood as a tree exploded as a large creature moved in. "Come on. Out numbering me wasn't good enough for you?" Danny said panting heavily. He tried another pull at his ghost core but the energy fizzled out. It was definitely there, but it felt like he had been hit by a Plasmius Maximus and out of sync with his body.

The huge creature towered over Danny nearly seven times his size. It had the head and body of a lion with bat like wings and a long scorpion tail that danced around over its arched back. Danny resisted the instinct to back away, instead taking the moment of confusion from the beast's entrance to move closer in to be too far inside the monster's attack range to get hit. Danny hugged close to the body, elbowing it and kicking it well moving out of the way of any attempts that the Manticore made at catching him.

But Danny might as well been trying to tenderize a two foot thick sheet of metal for all the good it did him. The Manticore reared up and pumped its wings savagely, blowing Danny back. Danny was now outside the area close to the lion like creature's body that it couldn't hit. Danny had to jump to the side and push himself over the Manticore as it pounced at him by using a nearby tree to redirect himself. But as Danny sailed through the air the Manticore's tail whipped out and struck him over the right foreleg.

Danny hit the ground hard and he tumbled several feet before rolling back up onto all four hooves. But his injure right leg began to jerk violently and he had to shift all his weight off of the leg in order to stop himself from falling. He felt a wave of nausea as the venom from the Manticore's stinger seeped into him. 'This isn't good.' He thought struggling to clear his vision as the Manticore approached.

'I don't have much time until I'll be out cold.' Danny thought. 'I need to finish this quick… but how can I get him. None of my hits are any better than a bee sting.' His eyes shot up to the scorpion tail and he knew what he had to do.

He ran as best he could without the use of his right foreleg to steady him and when the Manticore made a swipe at him with a claw Danny jumped as hard as he could up and over the Manticore's head. He kicked off of the back of the Manticore's head and to a tree behind it. Rebounding off of the tree he grabbed the Manticore's tail him his mouth and dragged it down into the creature's own back.

The Manticore howled and began to trash about but Danny held the tail in. The Manticore slowed as it was overpowered by its own venom and fell to the ground unconscious.

Danny grinned like a madman as he rolled off of the creature. But the smile faded when he remembered that there were six more of the Diamond Dogs waiting for him. The hounds circled around him and his vision blurred making it seem like there were twenty of them. Danny tried to give another push forward but couldn't even get up. The venom of the Manticore overwhelmed his small body and he lost consciousness as the dogs grabbed him.

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><p>"That… was… awesome." Rainbow Dash said slowly as they watched the Manticore fall.<p>

"I ain't never seen no pony move like that before." Applejack said equally amazed.

"I guess Twilight really did summon a hero." Spike said grinning. The small pony was like nothing they had ever seen before; he had the speed and strength of Rainbow Dash and Applejack, the precision and grace of Rarity and Fluttershy, and the careful planning of Twilight with the same instincts of Pinkie Pie.

But there grins fell away when the small pony collapsed and was dragged away by the Diamond Dogs. "And now he's being dragged away by the Diamond Dogs to King Sombra." Twilight said depressed again. "I dragged a child into this and now he is going to suffer because of me." Twilight said a tear coming to her eye again. "I should have never used that spell."

"That poor little colt." Fluttershy said quietly looking at the pool before they all went to comfort Twilight. The little princess had tried so hard but she didn't have any faith in herself and thought that everything she did only made it worse. Little did she knew, that the Diamond Dogs were taking the young hero exactly where he needed to be.


	3. Chapter 3

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.**

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><p>"Your Highness Sir. We caught the pony that was at the summoning lights just like you ordered." a Diamond Dog said to King Sombra as he sat on his throne in the new Dark Crystal Castle. The dog in question was supporting a limp and had a puffed up lip from his scrap with Danny.<p>

The Tyrant king grinned wickedly at the news. "Good." His deep growl of a voice said in self gratification. "Bring him here."

But the grin was replaced by a look of confusion when the Dog pulled on a long chain and a small colt was dragged into the room, one that seemed scrawny even for a colt. The colt looked pretty beaten after the dogs took their revenge on him. He also still bore the cut across his right arm from where the Manticore had got him. All four of his hooves were chained together and he had a muzzle over him mouth. Despite situation he looked rather pleased with himself.

"Is this some kind of a joke!?" The king roared angrily and the dog backed away. "This is nothing more than a small colt, hardly more than a foal!"

"I… I apologize sir, but he is the one that was at the light. And he is no ordinary Colt…" The dog tried to explain itself but quickly cut off.

"Silence!" The dark king roared and lights in the room flickered as his anger grew. He glared down at the tiny pony and swept his eyes over him. It was just a normal earth pony. It couldn't have magic, it couldn't even fly. How could something like that possible be the summoned hero?

He eyes stopped though on the cutie mark of the child. The shape was not familiar to him but he eyes widened as he realized that the cutie mark had been blacked out. "A forsaken?" His voice was hardly more than a whisper. "That… that is odd." He looked down at the pony new with a more quizzical look on his face. "But why would…" He shook his head. "Take him to the dungeons and prepare the meeting chambers. I must speak to the others about this."

The dog let out a sigh of relief. He had believed that his king was going to kill him then and there, so he quickly picked up Danny who squirmed against him and dashed out of the room.

King Sombra climbed up a darkened staircase to a solitary room in the top tower in the west wing of his castle. It was a dark room that had two large crystals in the center of it. As the doors closed behind him the crystal glowed with a dark power and the images of Discord and Queen Chrysalis could be seen in them. Chrysalis was on a mountain of pillows being fanned and feed by ponies that all looked to be in a zombie like state. Discord on the other hand had a golfing cap on and a bag of golf clubs over one shoulder and seemed to be driving a golf cart.

"Why hello there Sombra, have you changed your mind about playing soccer with me?" Discord said with a toothy grin that showed how half of his mouth had the flat teeth of a pony while the other had the sharp incisors of a dragon. "I've got three touchdowns and a full house so far." She said as he stopped the cart and pulled a stuffed turkey out of his golf bag and put it on the tee.

Sombra inwardly groaned, the master of chaos was a powerful ally, but he had a way of driving everyone up the walls. "Please Discord, I believe that Sombra has called about the summoning light." Chrysalis said hardly seeming interested. "So what is it? I am rather busy being adored right now."

Sombra had to resist rolling his eyes. 'Am I the only one that takes being a dark ruler seriously?' He thought but it was best to keep those thoughts to himself. But a fight between the three would be unproductive. Sombra could seal away Chrysalis's magic but would be overcome by Discord. Discord could beat Sombra but his powers were not as effective on Chrysalis and she would overpower his will. But if Chrysalis betrayed Discord while Sombra was still around then he would seal her power and she would have both of them to deal with. The three kept each other in check which was the only reason they had not gone at each other the moment the three more powerful princesses were out of the picture.

"My troops found the summoned pony, but it… was not what we were expecting." Sombra said not sure how to explain it to the others.

"I do not like surprises." Chrysalis groaned turning on her pillows.

"Oh oh I do." Discord dropped his golf club and a party hat appeared on his head.

"No… the one that was summoned was nothing more than a child. A colt, couldn't have been more than five summers old. He isn't even a unicorn or a pegasus, just a normal earth pony." Sombra said shaking his head.

Chrysalis busted out laughing. "You're telling me that they summoned a child. What a joke."

"Yes, but what made me call was the child himself. He was a forsaken. His cutie mark was blacked out." Sombra growled seriously.

Chrysalis laughter stopped. "A forsaken. Why would… that makes even less sense than summoning a child." Chrysalis said her eyes narrowing. "A forsaken is a miserable creature that has been denied its special talent and given up on it. They couldn't walk in a straight line, let alone win a war." Chrysalis sat up on her pillows. "A forsaken hasn't been seen in a long time. A Forsaken hero sounds like the punch line to one of Discord's bad jokes. So the Summons must have been a complete and utter failure."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Discord said his usual grin on his face. "I am familiar with the nature of that particular spell. If the spell failed then nothing would have happened. If the spell succeeds then the land of Equestria itself picks its champion."

"Are you suggesting that the forsaken child will be some kind of hero? Stop joking around." Chrysalis said rolling her eyes.

"Did you leave him with one of those inept Diamond Dogs that you enslaved?" Discord asked Sombra who nodded slowly. "Then the game is finally about to get interesting." A bowl of cheese nachos appeared next to him along with a beer hat that had chocolate milk in it.

The door to the chamber was knocked on. From the outside a voice could be hurried. "Your Highness, we have a problem!"

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><p>Earlier Danny was lying down on his side in the middle of a prison cell. Nothing that had happened to him so far could have been counted as a new experience. He has had his body changed before, he has been attacked by mobs and large and strange animals, he has been poisoned and chained, he has been dragged out in front of tyrant kings, and he has been thrown into dungeons for no reason. "But all on the same day." Danny muttered to himself as he checked the chains for a weakness. "What did I do to deserve this one?"<p>

Even without access to his powers his ghostly blood granted him a strengthened immune system and natural night vision. So his body had fought off the venom from the Manticore and he could move around again if it wasn't for all the chains. The muzzle that they put on his was loose enough so that if he had some kind of blade he could just cut it off but there was nothing sharp enough in the small cell.

'Come on Phantom, you've been in tougher cells than this.' He thought looking around. Even in the pitch darkness he could see a lone guard outside of his door and the knife on the guard's belt along with the keys to his shackles. 'I guess I'm just going to have to count on the stupidity of the guard.'

He began to get off a fake groan and shift about. The groan became louder and louder. "Quiet pony!" The guard shouted hitting a hand on the frame of the bar door. Danny continued to moan. He had been expecting the guard to try to find out what was wrong not react violently. "I hate whiny ponies. I won't deal with one again. Not after that… that… Raaa!" Apparently the dog had had negative experiences with ponies in the past.

Danny moaned louder. "I said quiet!" The guard opened the door and grabbed Danny lifting him up. Danny kicked out hitting the dog in the gut causing him to lose him breath and fall to his knees causing him to drop the pony Danny. Danny then jumped as best he could over the dog's head pulling the chains that were around his forelegs under the dog's throat and pulled back hard. The dog struggled but could not reach the small pony on his back and he couldn't draw in enough air to call for help.

The dog dropped to the ground and tried rolling over to get the pony off but Danny hold on strong and it only got him wrapped up in the chains. Soon the dog lost consciousness and Danny relaxed the chains over his throat. Danny pulled out the dagger a little surprised that he could hold things in his hoof even though there were no thumbs or anything. Cutting off the muzzle he grabbed the keys and unlocked his legs. He hopped around a bit to get rid of the numbness before locking the dog in the cell and leaving.

"This has got to be the smallest prison break I have ever been a part of." Danny muttered as he moved out into the halls taking the keys in a pocket he found that he apparently had in his fur, 'convenient'. "And the easiest." He moved quietly through the halls, even with hooves the ghost boy hardy made a sound as he moved through the shadows. The castle was barely light and the few lights that it had seemed to give off darkness rather than light. It was an interesting effect with all the dark crystals and grimy stones, but even if it did give an interesting atmosphere it made it almost impossible for the few guards to see the child that slipped by them.

He made it half way to the floor's staircase before an actual patrol came along holding a torch that gave off a stronger green light. Danny's eyes darted around but there was no cover large enough to completely hide him from so strong a light. His eyes then lighted on a door around a corner and he slipped inside just as the guard dogs passed. "This entire floor reeks of pony." One of the dogs said angrily. "Why does King Sombra insist on keeping that one here? Why can't he just send it to the mines with the rest of them?"

"Stop whining." The other said as they passed by. "After we get away from the door the smell will go away, you know that. Just be glad you don't have to guard her." They made a wheezing sound. "I swear it smells stronger than usual."

Danny listened to them pass before turning his attention to the room that he had snuck into. He was tucked into a corner and the shadows hid him from view of the occupants of the room. There were three of the large dogs around a table with a fire behind them. It was a normal fire in a fireplace that offered some warmth to the room and shaped the details of the dogs' large mouths and beady eyes. Unlike the others these dogs were armored and had short swords at their sides. They were there to guard something. Danny's eyes wondered and he spotted what they were guarding. His eyes widened as he saw a being more elegant than anything he had ever imagined.

In a cell on the opposite side of the room was another pony. She was around three times Danny's size and had a beautiful deep blue coat with a mane that looked like the night sky in the country side, filled with different shades and hues of blue and sparkling white that seemed to flow of its own accord. She had both the horn of a unicorn and the wings of a pegasus.

After the shock of first seeing her, Danny noticed that she was chained up like he had been and that her horn had black crystals growing on it. She looked really tired. "You will pay for this. Even if I fall, other will come." The blue pony said angrily.

"Give it up, princess. The time of ponies is over. You're imprisoned and the ones that are left don't have what it takes to stand up to the Dark Masters." One of the guard dogs said throwing a bone from something they had been eating. It hit the princess in the head bouncing off and falling to the ground.

Danny gritted his teeth, he didn't know much about what was going on, but it was clear who the bad guys were. He locked the door so that no more dogs would come in unexpected before shifting over to a barrel nearer the fire and grabbing a poker in his teeth. He checked his ghost core again but still no good. 'You don't need ghost powers to take these three idiots.' He told himself preparing to jump out. He knew that the moment did his cover was blown. Even if he could take out the armored dogs it wouldn't be quiet, and whoever this pony was she was clearly important. So even if he got lucky and no one heard the noise, they would find that she was gone soon.

But none of that mattered, because before all other things, he was a hero. Jumping out he caught them off guard and hit the first one hard on the back of the helmet with the metal poker. He landed on the table knocking aside some of the bones of a chicken that had been picked clean and lunged at a second dog that fell on its back in surprise and hit its head on the ground hard enough to lose consciousness, apparently the metal helmets were more for show than any actual protection.

Shifting around he brought the poker up in time to block a slash from the third and final guard's sword. He had to strain his legs not to buckle under the weight of the blow. The dog was grinning wide showing huge teeth. "Will you look at this, a little one that thinks he's a hero." The dog mocked as he towered over Danny.

Danny had to stop himself from throwing his own insults since he needed to keep his weapon in his mouth. Danny's eyes fell to the dog's hind legs, they were positions far back and spread wide. Danny turned, letting up on the block causing the dog to stumble forward. Danny shot between the dog's legs before it could regain its balance. Turning back around he drove the point of the poker up the butt of the poor creature that gave a teary whine and fell to its knees.

Danny circled around to be in front of the injured guard. "I am a hero." He said looking the dog straight in the eyes before he spun around kicking the dog in the head and lying him down with the rest. Danny then turned to the surprised pony in the cell. "Are you ok?" He asked pulling the keys out of his pocket. He checked them against the lock and it opened.

"Yes… I will be alright." The pony said stepping out of the cage where Danny went to work on the shackles. Danny looked up and saw a mark that looked like a moon in the night sky on the pony's flank. Danny couldn't help but the feel amazed. "But… who are you, young one?"

Danny looked at her and gave a teethe grin. "My name's Danny, what's yours?"

The larger pony looked surprised. "You do not know who I am? I am Luna, one of the Princesses of Canterlot." Luna said with a little bit of pride and hurt mixed together.

Danny's eyes widened. "So you're like, a real Princess?" Luna nodded. "That is so cool." Danny said grinning. "I've never saved a real princess before." Luna looked a little puzzled but chuckled at the comment. Her eyes spotted Danny's cutie mark and a momentary frown of sadness crossed her face but then she just looked confused.

'He could not possible be a forsaken. He moves with such purpose and strength.' She thought looking at the young pony who jumped when one of the dogs shifted. "I guess I haven't rescued you yet." Danny said looking a little sheepish. "Come on. We're pretty close to the stairs. If we hurry, we can get out before anyone notices anything." Danny went to the door and unlocked it before sticking his head out and looking around carefully. "I don't see anyone. I think we got lucky and no one heard the commotion." He looked back at the princess and grinned. "I guess my luck is improving."

Luna looked down at the little colt. She was wondering if it was all a dream when he took her hoof and pulled. "Come on. We have to go." He whispered as he pulled her out into the hall.

* * *

><p>"What do you mean Princess Luna escaped!? How could this happen!?" Sombra roared the fire from his eyes burning any nearby cloth.<p>

"The… the small pony, the one that they brought in from the forest, he… he broke out and overpowered the Princess's guards. We don't know where she is." The dog said cowering away.

"Are you telling me that you were overpowered, by something that isn't even half your size!?" Sombra's roar shook the entire room.

"Not… not me in particular." The dog said defensively.

Sombra growled and started to move deliberately towards the cowering dog. "Oh come now, Sombra." Discord said distracting him. "I told you this would happen. You can't underestimate the boy unless you actually want him to beat you."

"Here's a thought, why don't you go and try to recapture the princess." Chrysalis said a little annoyed. "You did seal away her magic so she couldn't have gotten far."

Sombra gritted his teeth but had to admit that the Changeling Queen was right. He glared at the dog. "I want all the men pulled for this. And if you don't find them than I will turn you all into my own personal rock garden!" He shouted and the dog bolted running away on all fours barking like mad.

"You see. This is why I don't use evil minions. To unreliable." Discord said holding up an apple core and spitting out a chuck of apple that reattached.

"That is disgusting." Chrysalis said before her image faded from the black crystal.

"Good luck. You're going to need it." Discord said knowingly as his image also faded.

"I hate those two." Sombra muttered as he left the room.

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><p><strong>Sorry if I didn't openly say that Danny was an Earth Pony earlier. I thought that you would understand that he didn't have wings or a horn simply on the fact that he didn't mention he had any and they would be pretty hard to overlook.<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.**

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><p>Danny was halfway through the courtyard with Luna when a loud roar could be heard. A black cloud descended from the sky and formed a ring encircling them. "Did you really think you could just walk out the front gate my castle?" The cloud formed together between the escapees and the grand gates. It condensed and became King Sombra, his eyes were blazing with rage and a black aura covered his horn.<p>

"Would you be mad if I said yes?" Danny said stepping in front of Luna as if to protect the larger pony. Sombra growled in response. "I'll take that as a maybe. If it makes you feel better I've done it before." A blast of reddish black energy shoot towards Danny and Luna. Danny grabbed the princess and pulled her aside. Luna stumbled and fell but the shot missed them.

Luna looked up to see Danny with a smile still plastered on his face, but his glassy blue eyes were serious and determined. "Princess, you go and leave this guy to me."

Luna's eyes widened. "No I cannot. You are just a child, I could not let you fight Sombra. You run and I will stay." Luna said struggling to her feet. She was far too weak to fight, she doubted she could even fly at this point.

Danny looked over at Luna still smiling. "Don't worry. I can handle this guy." He said and then ran full speed towards the dark king. Sombra laughed and shot another blast at Danny who artfully jumped to the side and continued his advance. Sombra tried again and again but the young war veteran was a master at dodging the oncoming attacks.

When he got in close enough Sombra tried to attack him physically, rushing forward and trying to bite the boy. Danny skipped over the Tyrant's head and kicked him in the horn as he went and giving Sombra a splitting headache. Not letting up Danny head butted Sombra's ribs and sending him to the ground.

Luna stared in astonishment of the way the young pony moved. He was facing down an enemy that her and her sister had to unite to stop, all by himself without the use of magic.

But it wouldn't last. "Discord was right about you. You are dangerous, forsaken child." Sombra said unleashing a wave of magic that pushed Danny back. Danny flipped in the air and landed on his feet like a cat. "But you are still nothing more than an earth pony!" Danny dashed towards Sombra and was about to give him another head butt when to his astonishment his body passed straight though Sombra's. Still in the air, he could not dodge the swing of Sombra's head.

Danny was swatted aside hard and hit the ground rolling before coming to a stop face down in the dirt. Sombra then turned his attention to Princess Luna. "You will pay for thinking you could escape me." The dark king growled. Luna wanted to run but she was too weak to get away.

Red and black electric sparks came out of Sombra's horn and Luna screamed from the pain. Danny looked up and the sight of it was enough to remove the smile from his face.

Rage surged up into him. Luna could not defend herself. He had to protect her. 'Protect.' The word resonated inside of him. He reached out for his ghost core and this time it responded. The cold energy flowed through him and his transformation began.

Sombra stopped and turned his head as he felt a sudden flare of magical power. He saw the young forsaken pony standing there with large green wisps of magical energy escaping from his body. The boy's eyes burned a bright green, far brighter than Sombra's own. Then a white ring appeared around his waist and as it separated and trailed up and down his body. His coat changed from a soft yellow to a midnight black, the color drained out of his mane which began to shift around like Luna's only shorter and a snowy white. The cutie mark also change from a blackened rocket to a silver shield with green trim and a black symbol in the center of it that looked like a little like a 'D'.

Danny looked up at Sombra with a black horn glowing bright green on his forehead. He dropped into a defensive position and raven wings shot out from his sides. The grin slowly returned to his face even though the look in his eyes could kill. "Looks like it is about time for round two." He said and his voice carried its own echo. "You ready to dance, Mr. Boogyman?"

Sombra stared at the new pony in shock but Danny was not going to give him time for that. An emerald green beam came from his horn and struck Sombra in the chest pushing him away from Luna.

Danny flew fast positioning himself once again between Luna and Sombra. Look up blinking away her tears, Luna saw Danny's new form. "Danny?" She asked in amazement.

"What are you?" Sombra said angrily. "Are you come kind of Changeling?"

Danny chuckled. "They call me, the Phantom." He said and shot enough blast at Sombra who was again caught off guard and was pushed back to the door of his palace.

Getting back up Sombra growled and again turned into a cloud of black smoke. His eyes gleamed through it. Danny shot another blast but the smoke just moved around it. Sombra laughed. "You cannot touch me." Danny dodged to the right as blast came from the cloud turning the ground to onyx black crystal. "But I can still hurt you!"

Danny looked up at the cloud his eyes narrowed. "Luna, cover your ears." Danny said. Luna looked up at him confused. "Cover your ears if you don't want to go deaf!" Luna didn't understand but she put up her hooves and covered her ears. Danny took in a large breath and his body began to glow white. An inpony wail came from Danny's mouth. The magic in the sound was so strong that it was a visible force that pushed the black cloud of Sombra away and tore half the black crystal palace behind him to pieces.

After a few moments the noise died down Luna looked up in amazement. Danny grinned down at her holding out a hoof. "Let's get out of here, before he gets back." Luna took the hoof and the magical green aura passed from him to her and she felt weightless as he pulled her up off of the ground. "Sorry if this feels a little weird." He said and then they flew faster than Luna had ever flown before. The wind seemed to just pass straight through them not slowing them down, the ground beneath them flowing by like a blur.

Two minutes later they must have traveled twenty miles. Danny lighted down and gently put Luna on the ground. Luna was still in a shocked state when Danny collapsed to the ground a white ring passing over him and he looked again like a normal earth pony.

Luna got up and leaned over the young pony whose breathing was less than steady. "Are you alright?" She asked tentatively.

Danny looked up and manage a grin in spite of his gasps for air. "I'll be… alright." He panted. "Just… pushed myself a little. That's… that's all." Luna looked around a spotted a small stream nearby. She tried to use her magic to lift Danny to it, but couldn't even manage that simple magic. She ended up lifting him in her mouth and carrying him over where he immediately took large gulps of water.

"Thank you." Danny said finally catching his breath. "Using that wail always drains me. But I couldn't think of another way of getting rid of that black cloud guy." Danny said turning to Luna.

The princess shook her head. "It is I who should be thanking you. You rescue me from my imprisonment. Thank you Danny."

Danny smiled broadly. "Don't sweat it. It isn't the first time I've done something like this and it probably won't be the last knowing my rotten luck." Danny got up and started moving. "Come on. We have a pretty good head start so I don't think they will be able to track us. We can find a cave and rest till morning."

"What do you mean rest till morning?" Luna said a little surprised.

Danny just blinked. "You know. Rest till the sun comes up. It would make it easy for us to find our way to… where ever we're going to go." The young hero said not sure why the Princess was so confused.

"But with my sister captured and my magic sealed there isn't a pony who can raise the sun." Luna said sadly.

"What? Magic is what causes the sun to raise, really?" Danny said in surprise. It was not that way where he came from. Then again there weren't any magical ponies were he came from either… or at least he didn't think that there were.

"Yes…" Luna said thinking that that should have been common sense. "That is why the sun has not risen since my sister and I were imprisoned. It must have been at least a week or two by now." Luna said think as to just how long she had been imprisoned.

Danny looked up at the starry sky. "Now that you mention it. It's been a while since I woke up and was attacked by the dog things. I guess you're right." Danny said before looking over at the princess. "Still, I need to rest and regain my strength and you're looking a little tired too, so we should probably still find some shelter." Danny started to move along the riverbed were the trees weren't as thick.

Luna couldn't no deny that she was tired, the black crystals were still sapping away her strength, so she followed Danny. A little more than a mile up the stream Danny spotted a cave and went to check it out. Coming back he smiled to the princess. "We're in luck. It's a pretty shallow cave and there aren't any signs that another animal has been using it. We can rest here for a few hours and then we can keep moving." Danny said with a smile and looked at her wings. "Do you think you're going to be able to fly?"

Luna looked a little embarrassed. "I am afraid not. Not until we can find a way to remove Sombra's crystals from my horn." She admitted.

Danny frowned. "Alright, but I can fly for the both of us later as long as you can give me directions." He said and then smiled. "Where to, Princess?"

Luna looked thoughtfully out the entrance of the cave. "To Ponyville."

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><p>Discord knew that something had happened. He could feel the way the world was changing, even if he couldn't understand or see it. But the not knowing was making him giddy. He loved not knowing. It was the uncertainty of the future that made it exciting for him. He never minded being trapped within the stone. He always knew that it would just be a matter of time before he broke free again. He never even tried very hard to stop the Mane Six from regaining the Elements of Harmony. Life was all one big game to him.<p>

That said he was getting a little impatient and was starting to wonder if he should personally go to the Blackened Crystal Empire to see what happened for himself when the call came and the images of Chrysalis and Sombra appeared.

Discord had to stop himself from doing a happy little jig as he looked at Sombra. The proud and pompous king's helmet was spilt, he and a scar going down one of his eyes, and Discord could just see some missing teeth. "My goodness Sombra. It looks like you did a great job recapturing the escaped princess. Please tell us how you did it. Give me the play by play." Discord said making a bowl of popcorn appear in front of him. Sombra growled, not liking being mocked by the Master of Chaos, though Discord preferred his new title of Bürgermeister of Madness.

"I thought Luna's magic was still sealed away." Chrysalis said starring at Sombra's form. "How was she released from your seal?"

"She wasn't." Sombra growled. "The summoned boy somehow changed into an Alicorn as powerful as Celestia and he blasted me along with half my castle before flying away and taking the Princess with him." Sombra anger was bleeding out of his uninjured eye as green flames.

Chrysalis was stunned into silence. Discord smiled. "The game is finally interesting. Oh goody." He said and squirmed with joy.

"I am going to go after them. No one makes a fool out of me and gets away with it." Sombra said and glared at Chrysalis as if he thought that she was responsible. He turned away and limped out of his communication room that the others had just realized now had moonlight coming into it.

Discord glided away dancing to himself and laughing. Until he came to his… 'guest's' room. He opened the door and there was Celestia in a giant bird cage. Her white coat had seen better day and her eyes looked tired. Discord's smile faded a little. "You really should eat, Celee." He said looking at the plate of food that had gone untouched.

"Don't call me that." She said a little harshness in her usually gentle voice. "You are not the pony I once knew." She said looking at Discord with sadness and disapproval. "And how can I eat well my people are suffering?"

"Come on Celee, have some fun. Chaos really is a blast. Why don't you join me? We could have so much fun together." Discord said hopefully.

Like every time before the High Princess looked at the Dark Master with cold eyes. "I would never join you, Discord. You are a monster." She said. The words stung Discord the same as they always did.

"I maybe a monster. But who made me that way?" Discord said seeing the shame pass Celestia's face. "You are still mine… even if your heart isn't." Discord turned to leave but stopped at the door. Not looking back, he switched back to his cheery voice. "That reminds me, your student is holding up very well and I hear that your sister have been broken out of Sombra's prison by a young hero that overpowered him." Celestia looked shocked. "I thought you might like to know." He said uncharacteristically softly as he left the room.

She looked at the door long after he had left it. "Kirin." She said sadly a single tear going down her cheek. A few minutes later she could hear Discord singing a sad song that went through the entire labyrinth that he had built as his domain.

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><p><strong>A Kirin is the JapaneseChinese equivalent to the Chimera, only instead of being considered monsters they have more of a holy meaning to them. They are also usual made up of Horses and Dragons.**

**Once upon a time I had a really good master plan for this story but I have long since forgotten what I meant by half of the stuff that it written here.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.**

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><p>Luna wasn't exactly sure how long she had slept when she woke up to find that Danny was no longer lying down next to her. She shot up and looked around trying to find the little pony when she spotted his outline against the night sky at the entrance to the cave.<p>

"Have you been awake long?" She asked coming up behind him. He jumped in surprise so hard that he hit his head on the ceiling.

"Oh Luna, you surprised me." He said as Luna giggled at his reaction. He had been so calm and collected during a time of emergency, but now he was more of a goof. He sighed in embarrassment. "No I haven't been up that long. I was just looking at the moon and stars." He said looking back out.

Luna smiled at little also looking up at the night sky that she knew so well. She thought about the little pony and couldn't help but to ask. "What is you cutie mark supposed to be?"

Danny looked up at her confused. "My what?" He didn't have the slightest idea what a cutie mark was.

"You know, the symbol on your flank." Luna said giggling a little. 'Didn't he learn anything from his parents? … He did have parents… right?' the thought turned to one of horror. "When a pony finds out what their special talent is, then they get a mark relating to that talent called a cutie mark." She explained.

"Is that what this is called?" Danny said looking at the blackened rocket. "Well, I think it's a rocket."

"A what?" Luna said confused.

Danny looked a little horrified by the question. "A… a ship that is used to go into space." He said trying to find the right words. "The people that fly in them are called astronauts, and it was my dream as a child to be one." Danny said a look of pure longing on his face as he looked up at the moon. "I always wanted to go to the moon. I watched the night sky every night when I was young until my parents would find me and force me to go to sleep. Even when I got older I would still climb as high as I could trying to reach out for the moon."

Luna was touched by the young pony's love for her night. She smiled gently down at him. But his smile faltered. "I had to give up my dream." He said a little sadly.

Luna was shocked. A pony giving up on their talent. "Why?" She asked knowing that it was rude but curiosity was getting the better of her.

Danny tried to keep up his smile. "Being an astronaut takes a lot of hard work and time. You have to pass all kinds of tests and show that you're the best." His head lowered from the sky. "I couldn't do it. I had put all of my time and energy into helping others. I became a hero and protected everyone I could. But… I had to give up my own dream to do it."

'So that is why he is a forsaken. He gave up his dream… for the sake of others.' Luna thought sadly.

"Come on." Danny said standing up and grinning at her with his crystal blue eyes. "I think we've rested long enough." A ring as white as the light of the moon flashed over him and he was once again a midnight black Alicorn colt with a pearly white mane. "Do you know how to get to this, Ponyville?"

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><p>Twilight Sparkle was reaching her breaking point, as were most of the adult unicorns in Ponyville. They had to keep up a constant barrier even stronger than the one that had been around Canterlot in order to keep themselves safe.<p>

Even with over a hundred unicorns contributing to the spell working in five sets of three hour shifts it was still extremely tiring work. They didn't have any specialist guards like Twilight's brother, Shining Armor, who could keep one up for months by themselves.

With each dawn that never came without any change in sight, the ponies were starting to give into despair. "Dear me Twilight, you really are letting yourself go." Rarity said to her friend. Rarity was one of the few who were still worried about their appearance during the dark times. "You really do need to come by my house some time so we can clean you up."

"Thanks Rarity, but I really don't have the time for something like that." Twilight said as she glanced through her spell books trying to find something useful.

"No Twilight, you're a princess. You need to keep up appearances to help the people who are looking to you for guidance." Rarity said as she tried to talk her friend away from the books. "And more than that, you need your rest."

Twilight sighed. "Maybe you're right." She said sadly closing her book. "I just wish that the others were here. I just don't know what to do Rarity."

"I know darling, I know." Rarity said patting one hoof on Twilight's back.

The door to the suddenly shot open and Sweetie Belle came running in. "Rarity, Princess Twilight come quick!" She said with a note of hysteria in her voice. Sweetie Belle and the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders had elected themselves to do guard duty.

"What is it now, Sweetie Belle?" Rarity said a little frustrated with her little sister since there had always been false alarms so far and Rarity had just calmed Twilight down.

"A large green light is heading this way!" Sweetie Belle said. "It looks like a giant green shooting star."

"What!?" Twilight said immediately on edge again and took off out the door.

"And I just got her to settle down too." Rarity said sadly before following the youngest Princess.

As they exited the library a large ball of green light streak passed above them right outside of the barrier that guarded the town. Once it was clear of the town it halted and slowly descended to be right outside of the shields boarders.

Several Ponies had gathered ready to drive out there attackers with pitchforks and brooms, but as the light began to fade all their would be weapons fell to the ground. Twilight pushed through the crowd to the front and her jaw nearly fell straight to the ground.

Standing where the green light had been was Princess Luna. There were a few cuts and scrapes on her coat, and the black crystals were still on her horn, but she was still a beacon of hope to the scared ponies. All of the older ponies went down on one knee to greet the Princess will some of the younger ones gave cheers of joy. "Princess Luna, you're alright." Twilight said with relief as she made an opening in the barrier that the princess went though. "I'm so glad you're here." Twilight was almost at tears. "How did you get away from Sombra?"

"Thank you Twilight Sparkle, I have missed you too. And as far as getting away from Sombra, I was rescued by this brave little…" Luna started but then stopped. She looked around. "Danny?" She felt something hugging her hind-leg and she turned her head to it.

This got some other ponies attention and they all soon noticed the smaller pony hiding behind there princess. "Danny what's wrong?" Luna asked in concern.

"…" Danny mumbled something but no one could make it out.

"What?" Luna asked confused.

"There… there's so many of them." Danny said a little louder but it was still hardly a whisper.

"Danny, these no need to be shy." Luna said trying to encourage him.

"How… how do… what if they try to hurt me?" Danny mumbled one green eye peering out from behind her leg. "I… what should I do?"

Luna was shocked. Danny had been brave and outgoing in the face of danger, maybe a little clumsy when it had been just the two of them. But now… now he was terrified. "Danny… you stood up to Sombra without hesitation and mocked him to his face. How can you be afraid of these good ponies?" Luna said in disbelief.

Some of the ponies that had heard her looked shocked. "That's different. He was a bad guy. I just had to beat him up. I don't know how to deal with normal… ponies." It almost sounded like he was pouting. "If a bad guy hurts you then you fight back. But you can't do that if a normal pony hurts you. If you do… then they call you a monster."

Luna couldn't understand. Danny was more afraid of normal ponies than of the Tyrant king and his evil army. "Danny, none of these ponies would try to hurt you. I promise you that. Now come on out and introduce yourself." Luna prodded.

The ponies of Ponyville's eyes widened as from behind Luna came another Alicorn, a small colt with a midnight black coat that seemed to radiate with a faint misty light and had a pearly white mane that shifted in an invisible current like Luna's. Danny's emerald green eyes were darting around uneasily as if he was about to make a break for it. "My… my name is Danny Phantom… hello." He said nervously before ducking back behind Luna.

Twilight, who had been closer than the other ponies, got a good look at the little pony and saw that he had been covered in scratches just like the princess. On top of that there was a large cut on his right foreleg that seemed to have gone without attention. "It looks like the two of you could use some medical attention. Let's get you back to the library and we can send someone to get Fluttershy." Twilight offered.

"Thank you. That would be… most appreciated." Luna said as she tried to calm the frightened little pony. "Come on Danny. We're going to have a friend look at your wounds." Danny nodded slowly and followed her closely as they moved through the crowd. His eyes still showing the same fear he had when he had first arrived.

* * *

><p>When they had gotten back to the Library and Fluttershy and the rest of the Mane Six had came Twilight started to talk to Luna again. "Luna, what happened?" Twilight asked again. Luna had convinced Danny to let Fluttershy tend to his wounds. The shy pony was having a positive effect on his own confidence, though it helped for him to be away from the large crowd. "Who is this pony? I never heard of a boy Alicorn, especially not one so young."<p>

"I can understand that. But when Danny first came and freed me from my cell he looked a lot different." Luna said looking at the younger pony, who had had his leg tended to by the gentle Fluttershy. "Danny, could you show them your other form? You did say that this one tires you, did you not?"

Danny looked a bit embarrassed but nodded. There was a flash of light and the Mane Six sat in shock as they were now staring at an earth pony with a black mane and a light yellow coat. Pinkie Pie was the first to find her tounge. "Twilight, isn't that the pony we saw in the pool after you used that summoning spell?" Now it was Luna and Danny's turn to be shocked.

"Twilight, that spell is forbidden!" Luna said a bit of the older and louder voice coming through in her anger.

"I… I know. But scrolls said that it can be used when Equestria is in the greatest of need and there are no other options. We were desperate." Twilight said in her defense.

"You do realize that that spell was forbidden for a reason, Twilight Sparkle!" Luna said angrily.

"I know… it isn't ethical to depend on someone else to fight your battles for you." Twilight said embarrassed. "But we…"

"That might be Twilight Sparkle, but that is not the reason that the spell is forbidden!" Luna said angrily but then her voice got quiet as she looked at Danny who only seemed confused. "That spell is forbidden because once the hero is summoned, he may never go back." They all looked at her confused but Danny's head drooped in understanding.

"What do you mean, can't he just fly home after everything over?" Rainbow Dash said.

"No, he can't!" Luna's voice blew the pegasus back. "You don't understand. That spell does not take a pony from Equestria, or even a pony from this world. Danny was taken away from another world, away from all of his friends and loved ones because of what you have done. And he may never return."

The Mane Six were shocked beyond words. "That… that's terrible." Applejack muttered and looked to the little pony who was staring at the ground below his hooves. "I'm so…"

"Don't worry about it." Danny said surprising them. "You needed help. I understand." He got up and turned away. "I… I need to be alone." And in the blink of an eye he was gone.

"Danny…" Luna said softly as he disappeared.

"What have I done?" Twilight said guiltily. She could not even imagine never being able to see any of her friends or family again. "This… this is beyond forgiveness." She said sadly.

"And yet… I think Danny will forgive you. He is… strange." Luna said settling down.

"What do you mean?" Rarity asked trying to keep the conversation going.

"Did any of you see his cutie mark?" Luna asked. "It transformed along with him. I think he was originally the earth pony. Did you see the two different marks?"

"His Alicorn mark was a shield, but I don't know what the earth pony mark was." Applejack said. "It was all black and a weird shape."

Twilight's head shot up. "Did you say it was black?"

Luna nodded. "A blackened cutie mark is the sign of a forsaken. When a pony gives up on their special talent there cutie marks turn black. Forsaken are usually miserable ponies that can hardly find the motivation to stand up." Luna said sadly. "But Danny is different. When I asked him about it he said that he gave up his talent, so that he could focus on protecting the ponies around him." All of the ponies looked shocked. "Such self sacrifice is… rare to say the least. You don't find such things in ponies twice his age. He was a hero long before you summoned him."

Fluttershy spoke up in her quiet voice. "His whole body was covered in small scars. It's hard to see with his light coat or when he was giving off that light, but a lot of them are really bad." Fluttershy put a cautionary hoof over her own chest. "There was one on his stomach… I don't know how a pony could survive whatever did that to him."

"I can't even imagine the kind of life that young colt has had. A life that allows him to laugh in the face of a monster like Sombra, but makes him flee in terror of the simple town ponies." Luna said shaking her head.

"We watched him fight off six Diamond Dogs and take down a manticore by himself without using any of that Alicorn magic." Applejack admitted.

"He probably couldn't at the time. The summoning probably left him weak." Twilight said sadly as if her conscience needed something else to think about. "He could have died."

"If that was him weak then he should have no trouble with the changelings or Discord's army." Rainbow Dash said excitedly but shank back at Luna's look.

"At any rate, we can't let him fight alone. Twilight, can you remove the seal on my magic? I believe it is about time for this night to come to an end." Luna said seriously.

"I think I know a spell but… I'll show it to you and you can double check me. I've been making nothing but mistakes lately." Twilight said her exhaustion showing.

Luna's expression softened. "You have done your best. I don't know of many ponies that should have helped organize a resistance like this one. You should be proud." Luna said trying to comfort her sister's student. "Call me when you are ready. I am going to see if I can't find Danny." Luna said getting back to her feet. "Despite what he thinks, being alone is the last thing he needs."

* * *

><p>Danny was lying on a patch of dirt a little was off. He had a stick in his hoof as was dragging it back a forth across the ground. "Danny?" Luna said softly as she came up behind him. He turned and his eyes seemed a little hollow.<p>

"Hi Luna." He said before turning back to the ground and his stick. Luna came closer and saw that there were words written in a very uneven hoof on the ground, three words; Jazz, Clockwork, and Frostbite. Danny could sense the Princess's confusion. "It's a list of everyone that cared about me back in my world." He murmured. "It's kind of a short list, huh; my older sister and my two teachers." A disheartened smile passed his lips and his hollow eyes showed some tears forming. "The only people who won't be glad that I'm gone."

Luna laid down next to him and put a wing around him. "Do you want to talk about it?" She asked calmly.

Danny whipped a tear out of his eye and seemed to hesitate before speaking. "I was still a hero back in my home world. I tried so hard to protect everyone." He said and then stopped and took a breath. "I had two different forms to hide the fact that it was me, since no one seemed to appreciate what I did for them. I fought almost every day for nearly two years, trying to keep everyone safe. But… but when they found out who I was…" Danny gulped. "They all turned on me. They wanted to kill me… or worse." Luna looked down in horror at what the child said. "Everyone did; the people in the town I protected, the government, my mom and dad… even my best friends shot me in the stomach… they almost killed me."

"That's awful." Luna said sadly. What do you say to someone who has gone through something like that, especially a child?

"They all said it was because I was a monster, and that monsters couldn't feel." Danny said putting his head on the ground. "I'm a monster… I get that… but… that doesn't make me evil… I can still feel." He looked up at Luna, tears in his eyes. "I'm never going back right… do you think that a monster like me could live here?"

Luna looked into the little pony's hopeful eyes still brimming with tears. "Danny, you aren't a monster, but we would be happy to have you here with us."

Danny smiled and nodded. Wiping the tears out of his eyes he suddenly jumped up startling Luna. "Well then, I guess that means I should earn my keep. You can count on me, Princess." He said grinning from ear to ear. "Sorry if I made you worry. I need to remember, everyone needs a hero, someone to give them hope." Danny said holding his head high as he started walking away. "Thanks for reminding me." He then started prancing in that way he had back towards the library. He stopped and turned back to the princess. "You coming?" Luna laughed as she galloped after him.

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><p>Once they got back into the library the girls seemed surprised to see Danny is higher spirits and holding his head up high. "Huwee, that must have been one heck of a talk you two had out there." Applejack said as the young pony moved around happily.<p>

"I suppose it was." Luna said smiling at the younger pony.

"Ha, how come you can turn into an Alicorn?" Pinkie Pie asked Danny.

"A what?" Danny said confused.

"You know, an Alicorn, like Princess Luna and Twilight." Pinkie Pie pressed. "With the horn and wings."

Danny realized what she meant. "Oh… I don't really know how to explain that." Danny said fidgeting. "I'm what's called a halfa, or a… a half ghost." The ponies' eyes widened. Fluttershy looked like she was going to faint. "A living being suspended in the process of dying by being exposed to an energy source that kills the living and mends the dead. So to die is to live and to live is to die." Danny tried to explain.

They all stared at him confused. "So… you're dead?" Rainbow Dash asked cautiously, not wanting to make Luna angry again.

"No… Yes… I don't know." Danny said his ears flattening a little in embarrassment. "I don't really understand to well how it works. There have only ever been two of us and we never really got along. But I'm pretty sure that I'm alive. I still need things; like sleep, food and water." Danny's stomach growled and he blushed. "Now that I think of it I haven't eaten since I was summoned. I don't even know how long it's been since the sun never rose."

"You haven't eaten anything is nearly two days, you poor thing." Fluttershy said getting over her fear of the word ghost at the sound of a hungry child.

Another growl was heard, but this time it was Luna's turn to blush. "I suppose that in the excitement of everything that has been happening, I have forgotten that I also haven't eaten recently."

Twilight nodded. "Spike!" She called out.

"Ya Twilight?" The Baby Dragon said his head poking out from upstairs.

"Can you take Princess Luna and Danny to the kitchen and give them something to eat?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, sure thing." Spike said before hopping down the stair and motioning for Danny and Luna to follow him.

Danny stood there staring. "Are you a… baby dragon?" He asked out of curiosity.

"Well, ya." Spike answered. "I'm Twilight's assistant, Spike."

"Wait, you're using a baby for labor… that seems a little wrong." Danny said nervously, not knowing the customs around there.

"Dude, you're going to be fighting the Dark Masters and you think I am the one with the short end of the stick? All I have to do is make sandwiches and clean up the mess." Spike laughed.

"Well when you put it that way…" Danny said and started to follow the baby dragon along with Luna.

"So you've seen any other dragons before." Spike asked Danny.

"What… um… no off course not." Danny said biting his lip.

Luna looked down at the younger pony in confusion. Spike just shrugged and moved ahead. Leaning down Luna whispered. "You have seen other dragons before, haven't you?" Danny jumped in surprised and blushed. "You really aren't a very good liar, but why lie?"

"Well… I'm a hero… fighting a rampaging dragon or two comes with the territory." Danny said a bit embarrassed. "It's not like I killed them or anything, but it would still feel weird telling him that I have gone toe to toe with full grown dragons when he's a… you know."

Luna began to chuckle. "You are one of the strangest ponies I have ever met, Danny."

Danny was only momentarily confused when Spike brought them some flowers on bread. Danny had been made to eat such thing during his days as Sam's friend, so it wasn't that unusual for him. And he figured that since he couldn't just leave everyone to their fate and he didn't even know if leaving would turn him back into a human… or at least as human as he used to be, so he might as well get used to the idea of eating as a horse. It also wasn't surprising that it tasted better than it did back when he was a human.

"Thanks for the meal." Danny said nodding his head towards Spike.

"Sure thing, you two head back to the others, I'll clean up here." Spike said as he picked up the plates.

As Danny and Luna returned to the group there was an uncanny silence over the group. "Is something wrong?" Luna said worriedly.

"Well… We… we don't have the materials that are needed for a purification spell." Twilight said with clear misgivings. "We used the last of the Gaia Crystal dust in the summoning ritual… Ponyville isn't a reservoir of magical resources, except for the Everfree Forest, but only Zecora really understands how all of those plants work. And… she was taken by the Diamond Dogs… we don't know what happened to her." Luna's ears dropped. She had not known of the fate of the zebra that had been their friend.

"Can't we use one of these books of hers?" Everyone turned their heads to Pinkypie who was holding up four rather thick books.

"Pinkie Pie… where did you get those?" Twilight asked wide eyed.

Pinkie Pie laughed. "Silly Twi, I just… I…" Pinkie Pie started but then she looked confused. "Where did I get these books?" Everyone face hoofed while Pinkie Pie giggled.

* * *

><p>"Those arrogent fools are laughing at me!" Sombra shouted angrily as he moved down into the underground mines to his castle. Other than his lost eye, his wounds had been tended to but his injured pride left him still fuming. He was still convinced that he was set up by the other two Dark Masters. "Minions!"<p>

Three Diamond Dogs edged out into the room, they were trembling in fear of their enraged boss. "Yes… Your Highness?" One of them asked tentatively.

"Where has the Princess and that… thing… that forsaken hero... where have they gone!?" Sombra demanded of his servants. "Why haven't you captured them yet!?"

"Your majesty… the small pony was too fast and sneaky… they have gotten to Ponyville before we could capture them." The dog said as if declaring that his own death sentence.

"If you know where they are then why haven't you captured them?" Sombra growled.

"But… but sir, the town has a protective barrier around it…" Another of the Diamond Dogs said in their defense.

"A… barrier? Whose barrier?" Sombra said confused. "Are you telling me that there is an entire town of still free ponies? Why in the Everfree Forest did no one say anything about this!? I would have stomped them out of existence a long time ago!" The dogs coward in front of their enraged master. "Maybe Discord was right, minions are worthless." Sombra groaned turning away from the dogs and going deeper into the mines. "But that changes today."

He walked into a room that was filled with all kinds of crystals, enough to fill the entire palace. Standing in the center of the room he started to call on his dark power causing his horn to glow a sickly shade of green mixed with bubbling black. "Rise up my dark army!" The command was accompanied by a black mist that seeped into the nearby crystals and turned them all onyx black. The ocean of crystal began to shift and bend, clumps began to form and the crystals fused together to make monstrous black lions each the size of a rhino and with sharp black teeth.

The Diamond Dogs were shivering from around a corner as they watched in horror as the Tyrant King laughed like a madman while a clump that was more than ten times the size of the other split into enormous twin wings and a onyx dragon reared up as gave a roar that shock the palace's foundations causing more of the already unstable castle to crack and fall away creating a opening above the army so that the light of the moon fell down on their shimmering black bodies.

"Now to finish what I had started! The eradication of the kingdom of ponies!" Sombra screamed to the heavens. "And then that Changeling Queen will feel my wrath…"

* * *

><p><strong>Dark army! Yay!<strong>

**Danny can't deal with normal society dur to mental trauma, and they are going to use one of Zecora's books, because I hear that always ends well.**

**We will see if I ever get to making another chapter of this.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.**

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><p>"Alright Sugarcube, that should be it." Applejack said standing a safe distance from the concoction that they had just brewed up using one of Zecora's books.<p>

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Twilight asked Luna looking a little unsure of herself. "I know the book says that it is a magical resetting potion, but… we don't exactly have a good track record when it comes to interpreting Zecora's books." Twilight said thinking back to all the mishaps they had had with Joke Flowers, Cutie Pocks, and Love Poisons.

Luna shook her head. "We don't have time for second guesses, Twilight Sparkle. This night has already gone on for too long." Then the large pony walked forward and climbed into the large cauldron that housed the potion.

All the other ponies stared in shock as Luna's body began to glow. "I can feel it working. My magic is starting to return to me." Luna said excitedly, she didn't hear the change in her own voice or register the shock on the other ponies' faces. Luna climbed out of the cauldron and used her magic to grab a towel that they had prepared and dry herself off.

"Princess, you feeling ok?" Danny asked putting a hoof on her shoulder. She was confused by the worried look on his face.

"I feel just… Danny… did you get bigger?" Luna said as she final started realizing that something had gone wrong. She had been three times bigger than Danny before, but now he was an inch taller than her. Her voice's pitch was a little higher and she looked around the room to find that all the ponies seemed to have gotten bigger as well as the room as a whole. She looked down to make sure she was still a pony and her crown which was now much looser on her head fell to the ground. Looking back up in surprise she spotted a mirror on the far side of the room.

Trotting across the room she stood in front of the mirror and saw herself for what she had become. She was now a young filly around the same age as Danny. She still had her dark blue coat and her horn and wings but her deep blue and starry mane no longer flowed in an invisible wind, being more solid just like other ponies. "I'm… a filly again?" The room was filled with an awkward silence, but just like Danny the Lunar Princess had gone through a lot in her hundred years and she was fairly relaxed about it. "Well I suppose it could have been a lot worse."

"Well that… was unexpected…" Applejack said slowly.

"Princess Luna, I am so sorry." Twilight said rushing back to Zecora's books. "Magical reset must have meant turning back your age. I should have picked a different option."

"It's ok, Twilight Sparkle." Luna said calming moving around with her head still held with pride and the majesty of a princess, even without her crown. "The potion did what we needed it to; I have regained my magic. I can live with these side effects for now. This is not nearly the worst magical mishap that has happened to me is all my years." Luna had to reach up in order to put a comforting hoof on her sister's students shoulder were before it would have been easy to ruffle her mane.

"It might be a little inconvenient, but it is not like it is permanent. Once we free Equestria we can search for a cure." Danny added laughing a bit. "At least she is still a pony." Danny said ironically since he was just recently changed into a different species by some of their magic.

"And even if we can't reverse the effects, that just means I will have to wait and grow up again. When you become as old as I am, five Summers does not seem like such a long time." Luna agreed nodded. Twilight and her friends looked a little confused but accepted her resolve. "Right now, I need to raise the sun again and bring this endless night to an end."

Luna flew over to the balcony and her body began to give off golden and silver wisps of light as she started to call on the new dawn. In just a few moments they could all see the first golden lines of the morning sun peaking out from behind the mountains in the east.

The small glimmer of light beneath the clouds caused cheers of joy in the streets as the sign of hope was seen by all. Luna staggered a little as she returned into the library. "Are you alright?" Danny asked the young again princess.

"I am just fine. It seems this body doesn't have the same level of stamina as my old form." Luna admitted but she was still happy that she was able to bring the endless night to an end.

"You did it! The sun is coming up, alright!" Rainbow Dash whooped as she flew through the air and looked in the direction of the rising sun. But then she stopped. "Twilight, something coming!" She shouted down to the others.

They all ran out to the balcony and looked towards the rising sun. They could all see the glimmer of light reflecting off of what looked like a dark ocean that was slowly pushing towards them. A black cloud hovering over it, threatening to obscure the little glimmer of light on the horizon. "What is that?" Twilight said looking through her telescope. "Oh dear Celestia..."

"What? What is it Twi?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"It's an army... we're under attack!" Twilight shouted on the top of her lungs. "Everyone, battle positions! This is not a drill!" The ponies in the streets scattered to take up there positions. "Rarity, I need you to start gathering the unicorns to help maintain the barrier. Rainbow Dash, you're with the bombing squad. Applejack, you and Pinkie Pie will monitor the normal defenses. And Fluttershy, I need you to help make sure everyone gets the their emergency shelters. Lets move ponies! We'll push them back, just like the others!"

"Twilight, those aren't Diamond Dogs." Rainbow Dash said a little hint of fear in her voice.

"I know Rainbow Dash, I know." Twilight said before rushing off to help prepare.

Luna made to go with her but stumbled. "You alright, Luna?" Danny asked helping her to her feet.

"I'm too drained from raising the sun... it is a little harder for me than the moon." Luna said, she looked just as tired as she had the night they had escaped Sombra, or at least Danny thought of it as night.

"Don't worry, I'll handle this." Danny said grinning before running off after Twilight.

* * *

><p>Twilight was with all of the unicorns in Ponyville, they were all doing their best to keep the barrier up as what seemed like hundreds of Black Crystal Lions smashed into the veal that was all that protected them. It seemed as if their was one for every single pony in Ponyville.<p>

"Where is Rainbow Dash. We need those bombers." Twilight said as she looked to the skies. As if on cue, Rainbow Dash flew over head, leading a dozen other pegasi.

"Rainbow Dash, I'm scared!" Derpy said as the gray pegasus looked down on the army of crystal monsters.

"I told you not to worry! As long as we stay in the air they can't get to us!" Rainbow Dash shouted back. "Now drop the bombs!" They dropped bags of exploding magical powder which exploded into brightly colored puffs of smoke as they landed on the heads of the lions. "Yes!" Rainbow Dash shouted, but as the smoke cleared the lions seemed unaffected by the blasts. The ones that had been hit turned to each other and combined in pairs to form two headed winged lions. "Oh snap." Rainbow Dash said in panic as the winged lions took to the skies and began to chase around the winged ponies.

"Oh, no!" Twilight said as she saw what was happening. "How could this get any worse?" Just as she said in a massive raw split the air and down from the dark clouds above them came a massive Black Crystal Dragon. "Oh sweet Celestia." The Princess mumbled as the huge dragon lifted up a claw and racked it across the barrier.

Some of the Unicorns screamed as they strained against the blow that created a ripple across their shield. "Twilight! I don't know who much longer we can keep the barrier up!" Rarity shouted as the dragon hit them again. "What are we going to do!?"

"I... I... I don't know!" Twilight shouted starting to break down from all the stress. "I don't know what to do. I... I..." She closed her eyes as another hit shook the shield. "I need help..."

"Open up a hole." Twilight turned her head to see the Earth Pony Danny standing next to her. "Open a hole in the shield so I can go out there and take care of it." Danny explained.

"No, I couldn't... you could get hurt..." Twilight said.

Danny just grinned and a ring of light travel up his body turning him into the black Alicorn. White wisps of magical power were flouting off of him as he stood before her. "Don't worry, I can handle it." He said with the strange echo in his voice.

Twilight just looked at him in disbelief. She was sensing something from him, magic like nothing she had ever felt before. Before she knew what she was doing she nodded and Danny went running straight at the Dragon. A hole appeared in the shield and Danny rocketed out of it, his body covered in green energy and he smashed into the dragon's chest pushing it back. The hole closed behind him.

"What... what is this feeling?" Twilight said as she watched Danny go.

"So you feel it to, do you Twilight Sparkle?" Luna said as she walked up to the once younger princess.

"I... what is it?" Twilight asked forgetting her manners in light of her curiosity.

"It is one of the six fundamental forms of magic." Luna said not even looking at Twilight.

"But I thought there were only four fundamental forms of magic; Harmony, Discord, Love, and Deceit." Twilight listed them off. "Two of light and two of darkness."

"Yes, but there once were two more, back during the darker days." Luna said as if lost in memory. "These two powers only exist during the darkest of times. Despair... and Hope." Twilight looked through the barrier as the Dragon stood back up to face off against the little Alicorn. "That is what you are feeling from Danny. You are feeling true hope that can rekindle to beauty of a world lost in the darkness. So believe... believe that he can do it."

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry to everyone who wanted the epic fight scene, but I have already written two three staged boss fights this week and they are exhausting.<strong>

**So if the Danny vs Army is what you are waiting for then sorry, you still wait.**

**No Luna being turned into a filly is not permanent, it is just an excuse for the fact that Danny still has to do everything himself until after they take down Simbra and save the Zecora.**

**Yes I know that saying that Hope exists along side despair is inviting the possibility of Dan into the future, but it would be a long ways away and I would probably drop the story before then. I was going to have already dropped it (that was why the last chapter was so big), but do to odd demand I continued a little more.**

**Sorry I misspelled the names of the main characters, but that should just go to show how little I know about the mlp franchise.**


	7. Chapter 6 part 2

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.**

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><p>Duck right, double heel kick, ectoblast... Danny took down one of the black crystal lions after another as he tried to keep a small safe zone around him while fighting off an actually army.<p>

Three of the creatures jumped at him at once from different angle and Danny phased into the ground in order to dodge them all, causing them to collide into each other where he had been standing.

He came out of the ground beneath a fourth and smashed into it, reducing it to tiny black shards. He spinning up into the air where he rained down a dozen ectobolts on to the creatures beneath him taking out five more.

"Forty down." Danny mumbled looking around at the endless horde that surrounded him. "A thousand to go." But before he could get any further, some of the two headed flying ones rushed in on him and he had to raise his shield.

He struggled a little as ten of them flocked about pushing in on his force field, trying to get at him. "Bad... move!" Danny shouted as he pushed out a stronger wave of energy blasting all of them to dust.

With a moments rest, Danny hovered in the air trying to catch his breath. He was out numbered a thousand to one, and it didn't look like he could count on any help. A brief memory of storming Pariahs Dark's castle flashed into his mind before he pushed it back. It wasn't a good time to get stuck in the past.

A thunderous roar shock the air and Danny barely managed to dive out of the way of a mammoth claw that had been swung at him. The black crystal dragon was back on its feet, and it was not happy.

As its second claw swept in a large arc towards the ghost pony, it smashed though some of its comrades that had just happened to be in the way. Danny felt the wind of the attack as he jumped back out of the range of the swing. The dragon screamed with annoyance and beat its wings in frustration, causing enough wind to blast back some of the lions that had been trying to come up on Danny from behind. "Glad this thing never heard of friendly fire."

But then the black dragon tilted his head back and Danny felt a flaring sense of irony as he quickly put up his ecto-shield. A stream of black fire with small flakes of green in it poured out of the dragon's mouth and smashed into Danny's shield. The fire alone took out more of the crystal lions that Danny had managed to destroy.

But then again, what was the point in having an army, when you could just have one really big powerful dragon.

As soon as the fire let up Danny dropped his shield and sent several ectobolts at the dragon, but it was built tougher than the lions and the green energy shots just bounced off.

Danny started to weigh his options and they weren't as heavy as he liked them to be. Even with the bit of rest that he had gotten and the bit of food he had eaten, he was still no were near at a hundred percent. So the ghostly wail was not an option. Even if it wasn't for the fact that using it so close to Ponyville's barrier would most certainly bring it down. That was what the attack was designed to do in the first place, destroying shields.

But if he didn't take the dragon down, then the shield would be done for anyways.

"Alright rock head, lets go!" Danny taunted the creature, he dug his front hoof into the ground twice before charging that creature. Danny was bringing out as much of his energy as he could, causing his body to shimmer with green light that left a trail behind him as he ran.

The dragon roared again and tried to bring down its right claw on Danny. But Danny dodged to the side and jumped onto the arm, running up on it a little before jumping and spinning rapidly. The green energy condensed making Danny into a living arrow, which shot through the dragon's arm just above the elbow joint and continued on to break through the dragon's right wing as well.

Danny stopped spinning and worked on get the stars out of his eyes as he assessed the damage. "Yeah, how do you like them apples!" Danny shouted in triumph.

But it was short lived. The dragon roared again in anger before looking around and finding a few nearby lions. It smashed its stumped arm into one of the lions which fused with the stump before attaching to two others. They all formed together into a massive jagged cleaver like black crystal blade that was growing out of the dragon's arm. "Oh come on!" Danny shouted as he dodged at blade only to be blown back by the wind caused by the thing.

Danny looked over at the village. It seemed that the shield could hold up for a while against what was left of the lions. Danny had smashed around fifty of them, but the dragon had taken down around half of them due to friendly fire. "If I can lead it away from Ponyville and the lions, then it can't use them to regenerate." Danny said to himself.

He stayed just outside of the dragon's attack range, dancing out of the way of the attacks and moving further and further away from the village. "Come on, slow poke!" Danny shouted laughing a bit. "That last one missed me by a..." Danny was cut off as he was hit by the dragon's claw which had not been watching. He was shot backwards into the ground at high speeds leaving a long trail in the dirt.

Danny was still struggling to recover when he heard laughter rumbling from the sky.

The dark clouds that had been looming over the battlefield began to twist and condense into (god it has been so long I forgot his name...) Sombra's face, his fiery green eyes grinning down at the spectacle. "You ponies are so foolish! Did you think that just because you have raised the sun means you are safe!? My darkness has blocked out your sun, and soon your hero will fall and the princesses will be placed in cages where they belong!" Sombra laughed. "You don't get a happy ending to this story! You will all work in my mines until you have forgotten what the sky ever looked like!"

"You... you're wrong!" Danny shouted as he pushed himself to his hooves. "Even if you... hide it away... there will always be hope!" Danny took to the sky flying up towards the clouds. He flew through them and up into the greater skies before turning back down earthwards, his eyes flashing a brilliant ice blue.

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><p>Twilight and the unicorns were starting to be pushed onto there last legs when they saw the dragon slowly moving back towards them, its massive form made even more terrifying by the huge blade it know bore instead of an right arm.<p>

"It... it's over." Twilight said despair entering her voice.

"I wouldn't be so sure, Twilight Sparkle." Luna said looking up towards the sky. "Hope becomes its most powerful during the darkest hour."

Twilight then noticed the massive surge of magic coming from above them and looked up as well. The face of Sombra broke as what looked like a giant hammer made of crystal as clear as glass fell through the clouds, pushing them apart so that the light could shine down through them. The light was caught in the hammer and split into hundreds of rainbows that danced through the sky as the hammer built up speed.

The dragon saw the massive piece of crystal coming and tried to guard against it, but the hammer was a quarter the size of the dragon itself and moving at high speeds. It looked as if the black crystal dragon was being hit by a shooting star surrounded by rainbows. The dragon only had enough time for one final roar before it was crushed into powder. The blow was enough to shake the very earth. There was stunned silence that followed before the remaining black lions turned and fled the battle field, heading back towards the mountains were they came from and the cry of victory was sounded from the ponies of Ponyville.

"He... he did it." Twilight said in amazement as she looked to the hammer where Danny was standing in his Alicorn like form on the top of the handle.

"Of course he did." Luna said smiling a little. "He is a hero after all."

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><p><strong>I finally go around to actually writing this fight. Not sure when I will get around to continuing the rest of it, but oh well. <strong>

**I don't feel like enough happened for this to be considered a full chapter so I am saying this is chapter 6 part 2.**

**'Hammer of Dawn'® fixes everything forever... until there is stuff around it that you actually mind being smashed into a fine powder, or if your fight is indoors.**

**I do not promise any from of good grammar or spelling.**


	8. Chapter 6 part 3

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.**

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><p>"Rahaaaa!" The roar of rage shook what was left of the once proud crystal palace. Sombra had not taken his second defeat at the hands of the forsaken child any better than he had taken his first.<p>

His 'servants', the enslaved Diamond Dogs, were all cowering within the dark tunnels below the castle, in some old abandoned mine shafts that had dried up. They were all too afraid of their master's wrath to venture out. Even in the best of times, being in Sombra's presents was dangerous. But now it was suicide.

"What are we going to do? We can't just hide down here forever. He'll find us." One of the smaller dogs with light gray fur asked the leader using the same gravely voice that all the dogs had.

The leader was the much larger and darker furred dog with the scar over his right eye who had first tried to capture Danny in the first place. A job that he deeply regretted not failing. "Returning to the castle would mean being turned into Sombra's rock garden." He grunted angrily as he looked about at what remained of their numbers. "We have lost too many of our pack to such a fate already."

"Oh... way did the Dark Masters have to come to power." A bigger and fatter dog whimpered. "Life was so much better back before all our precious tunnels were filled with... ponies. Their smell was everywhere. I could hardly breath."

"Just be glad you were allowed to guard the mines." Another scoffed. "I had to patrol the surface. THE SURFACE!" He howled covering his eyes with his paws. "I can't stand that open sky. I constantly felt like I was going to fall up into it and be swallowed." He said, sharing a shudder with some of the others who had been assigned the same task.

"Would you all stop whining! You're acting like a bunch of self entitled little ponies!" Their leader snapped getting them all to shut up. "We can't return to our dens as long as Sombra still stand on top of the Crystal Palace. So our only hope is to get rid of him." The dog said baring his teeth.

"You can't be serious! We can't fight his magic!" The small gray dog said, before yelping as he was smacked across the face.

"I never said we would do it ourselves!" The big dog said looking around at all of them as the ground shook again from Sombra's anger. "An enemy of our enemy is our friend... We'll lead the pony's hero to fight the Dark Master for us." He said with a grin, a plan starting to form in his mind. The dogs would have their tunnels back, and then after that the war was no longer their concern.

But for it all to work, they would need to convince the hero to take down Sombra once and for all, instead of going to Canterlot to retrieve the elements of harmony. But they had just the thing to let them have their way.

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><p><strong>Consider this part 3 to chapter 6. Something I should have wrote in order to lead into the next chapter.<strong>

**Yes, I am having the dogs be victims in all this mess. I'm allowed to victimize my bad guys, I do it all the time. It is common practice in anime.**


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